


If Only the World Wouldn't Get in the Way

by FriendshipCastle



Series: Volleydorks [8]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: A continuation of that Drunk!Fic, Disney Movies, M/M, T for language again, grumpy Asahi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-18
Updated: 2014-10-18
Packaged: 2018-02-21 14:55:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,630
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2472320
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FriendshipCastle/pseuds/FriendshipCastle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It’s finally getting cold and rainy where I am so yeah I’ll write a sultry summer fic.  Title is from that song from the Disney classic, <em>The Fox and the Hound</em>.  I don’t know how my anime bud decided that’s the best movie for these boys but it feels right.  </p>
<p>Asahi has a mopey time post-high school graduation and Noya decides to bug him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	If Only the World Wouldn't Get in the Way

It was one of those slow, lazy mornings. His one day off work this week. Midsummer. Cicadas screaming outside his open window. Noonlight hazy in the heat. He woke up sweating under his sheet and kicked it off without opening his eyes. All of his hair was sticking to his face so he scraped it out of the way and rolled over onto his stomach, trying to expose the back of his neck to the air.

“Asahi?” he heard his dad say in the doorway.

He grunted.

“I’m going, uh. Out.”

Another date. Asahi hadn’t met her yet. He’d met four of his dad’s girlfriends in the past eight years. There had been more than that but Asahi wasn’t sure how many more. His dad was just as shy as Asahi was and seemed to lose girlfriends as fast as he acquired them. Shy and awkward, the Azumane curse. And looking too old for their age was part of it, too. His dad was nearly 40 but looked like he was in his late 50s. Maybe Asahi would go grey early, too. Maybe his body would start falling apart way too young, for no reason, just like his father. Maybe he’d end up with medical expenses that kept him working horrible hours to make rent, kept him from university for his whole life, kept him in a shit apartment on the edge of a nowhere-town.

“Asahi? Bud, did you hear me?”

“Yeah,” Asahi sighed. 

“I’ll see you tonight then?”

“Yeah.”

“Have a friend over while I’m gone or something,” he heard his dad say as he retreated down the hall. “Maybe Suga or Nishanoya? Or go outside for a bit. To the park Have a nice day.”

Asahi rolled onto his side and grunted. Suga was busy getting ready for university and he hadn’t seen Noya since the uh. The volleyball end-of-the-year party. Ostensibly because he’d been too busy but also because yes, it was the Azumane in him, he was too awkward about it. He curled up in a ball and pulled his sheet over his head to try and keep his thoughts at bay, even though it was way too hot in his room. Yes, it was definitely one of _those_ mornings.

 

 

 

 

 

He woke up again an hour or so later. The sun was now beaming directly into his room and it was getting hard to breathe. That wasn’t what woke him up, though. His phone was buzzing by his head. He dragged it over and hit answer without checking the name.

“Yeah?” he grumbled into it.

“Oh hi, Mr. Azumane, can I talk to your son?” said Noya on the other end. Then he laughed for a long time and added, “I know this is your cell phone, Asahi, but jeez! You sound like your dad! You got a cold?”

“No,” Asahi said, smiling slightly in spite of himself. “I was asleep.”

“Dude, it’s like two in the afternoon! Get your ass out of bed!”

“Why?” Asahi said.

“Cuz I’m about to bang on your door.” There was a banging outside the Azumane’s apartment. “Did you hear that? It was me.”

“You need to give me more warning than this if you’re coming over,” Asahi said around a yawn. He pulled his boxers out of his buttcrack and stood up, swaying slightly. 

“I’m gonna do it again, so hurry up!” Noya hung up without signing off. As Asahi dug for a T-shirt he remembered that he still had to do laundry. His in addition to his father’s, probably. He sighed and dragged on one of the tanktops with a horrible American name (‘wifebeater’ was a dreadful thing to wear but it was such a common term) that his uncle had accidentally left behind when he visited. It hung on him. His uncle was a head shorter than Asahi and perhaps twice as wide. Asahi stared down at himself, sighed again, and went to answer the banging at the door.

Noya’s face went from delighted to completely neutral in the span of a second. He took a step back and seemed to take Asahi in like he was a painting hanging in a museum. Noya even propped his head on his hand and tilted his head to the side.

“You are wearing a dress,” he said finally.

“It’s a shirt,” Asahi said, feeling the blush that never really went away rising in his cheeks.

Noya did not look convinced. “Uh huh.”

“Uh, I can put on pants if you want to go out,” Asahi said, suddenly realizing his best friend who’d been maybe drunk and definitely _all over his face_ last time he’d seen him would be alone with him in their shitty apartment if he didn’t wake up and get them the hell out of there.

“Nahhhh, it’s fine,” Noya said, foiling his plants in an instant (and didn’t he just always do that?). He moved to come in and Asahi jumped back out of his way. Noya was peering around the space, eyes bright and interested as a bird’s. “It’s hot as balls in here, dude.”

“Well, it’s an attic,” Asahi said. He could see the dirt by the door where his father stomped dust off his boots. He could see the mountain of laundry he still had to do today. He could see how cramped it was, packed tight with furniture from their old house that had originally been purchased for a living room where there was space to breathe. He really hoped Noya didn’t want to see his bedroom. His mattress was still rolled out and that meant there was a foot of space all around the bed to walk and that was it.

“You live in an attic?” Noya said. “That’s so cool. Why'd you never tell me? Do you better dish signals up here?”

“We don’t have a dish. Or anything,” Asahi said carefully. "Just the TV." He waved to it. It was maybe 20 inches square, perched on top of a VHS player. His movie hoard was balanced next to it. Suga had given him every single one, passing on the older VHS when he bought the new DVD of yet another Disney movie in his collection.

“Shit, this is awesome,” Noya said, vaulting a couch to get a closer look. “I _miss_ VHS, don’t you? 

“Uh, not really,” Asahi said. “It’s all I have.” He rested a hand on the stack Noya was peering at and spread his fingers across _Fivel Goes West_ , trying to hide it a little.

Noya looked up at him, eyes bright. “Which one’s your fave?”

Asahi felt the heat rising in his face as he gently nudged one tape out of the jenga tower that was his movie collection.

Noya’s face almost split in two with the strength of his smile. “Can we watch it?”

“Yes,” Asahi said, and he pushed _The Fox and the Hound_ into the tape slot.

“Oh dude, you're _responsible_ ,” Noya said as they settled onto the couch and the opening previews started up. “You rewind your tapes after you watch them. I forgot people did that.”

Normally, Noya liked to cuddle up to Asahi during movies, draping his legs or his torso over his friend, but Asahi felt weird about that now. He was in his underwear (and not particularly interested in putting on more clothes in this heat) and the last time the two of them were alone together, he’d kind of dumped his heart out and Suga ended up hitting them with a pillow and hissing, “Calm down before you mess up Grandma’s carpet even more!” That was uncalled for because Asahi wasn’t going to take advantage of anyone who was intoxicated. But then Noya had sat up and said in a very clear and sober voice, “You ruin everything, _Mom_! Things were just getting exciting!”

“Stop calling me Mom!” Suga had yelled, and Asahi had snuck out while they were having an argument about appropriate behavior in other people’s homes. He’d started his new job at a roofing company the next day and for the past two weeks he hadn’t had the energy to do anything or talk to anybody. 

But Noya was here now and sliding towards him on Asahi’s threadbare couch and Asahi’s mouth said, “Sorry it’s so hot up here. You just don’t want to have any human contact when it’s this hot, huh?”

Noya blinked at him and slid back to the other side of the couch. “Yeah. You’re right. It’s a pretty nasty heatwave so far.”

They watched in silence for a while, Asahi braiding and unbraiding his hair until it got too hot to bear and he hoisted it into a messier bun than usual. Noya’s hair had gone limp in the summer swelter, the blonde streak almost hidden as it stuck to his sweaty forehead. He wiped at it every now and then but he never looked away from the screen. Asahi still had to cover his eyes during the chase scenes. Noya kicked him a few times and grinned at him, mocking but not judgmental. Asahi relaxed by degrees. Then, right when Tod had to spend his first night in the forest, his stomach gurgled.

Noya stared at him. “Did you eat anything today?”

“No,” Asahi realized as his stomach grumbled again. “I should do that. Do you want anything?” He paused the movie.

“Yes!” Noya said. “Soda.”

Asahi smiled. His father had bought another six-pack of Noya’s favorite soft drink a week ago, forgetting that Asahi didn’t go to school anymore and give the sodas to his friend. Asahi popped the refrigerator door, trying to ignore the dirty dishes piling up in the sink. “We have some in here. Grape, right?”

“Yeah!” Noya said, crawling under Asahi’s arm to dig for the drink himself. Asahi backed away and started washing dishes. His dad was painfully, stubbornly A Bachelor and refused to do dishes until he needed them. Technically, Asahi was a bachelor now, too. He didn’t think of that often. He was eighteen now. Not yet an adult legally, of course. And he still had to live with his father. It wasn’t safe for Mr. Azumane to live alone, not if he got sick again suddenly. The symptoms came and went every few months. Even if Asahi managed to scrape together enough to get his own place, he’d probably have to visit to make sure his father didn’t get too sick.

“Asahi?” Noya said.

Asahi glanced over. Noya was holding the cold grape soda can against the side of his neck, just watching, with his head to one side.

“Am I doing something wrong by coming over?” Noya said.

Asahi turned off the water. “Uh. Well, I wasn’t doing anything before you came here except sleeping.”

Noya twanged the tab on the can but didn’t open it yet. “No, I meant… You remember Suga’s party?”

Asahi turned the water back on and started fumbling through the dishes. He could feel the blush burning up the back of his neck, engulfing his ears, storming his cheeks and forehead. “Um, yeah. Uh.”

The air in the apartment was so still and heavy, Asahi could feel it when Noya moved closer to make himself heard over the faucet’s spitting. “So. Why won’t you talk to me about it? Cuz, yanno, I was thinking we were maybe dating now? But you won’t talk to me. And I know you’re busy, working and all that, but still. I wanna be around you and, uh, stuff. Like, dating stuff. Like more of the making out maybe.”

The water wasn’t very cold, but all Asahi could think to do was cram his head under the tap. The rushing in his ears was a relief. A stack of newly-clean plates scraped against the side of his face but it was still a welcome break from probably the most awkward conversation Asahi had ever experienced, including that time Suga gave him The Talk. At least Suga had just lectured him. He hadn’t expected Asahi to _answer questions_ or _make decisions_.

He had to breathe sometime, though. He turned off the tap and gasped in air, then twisted his head to find Noya glaring at him.

“What the fuck are you doing?” Noya snapped.

Asahi slumped, sliding down the counter until he was kneeling on the floor, his head pressed against the peeling cabinets. “I don’t know how to talk about this kind of. Thing.”

“And you think I do?”

Asahi shrugged, leaning even more heavily into the cabinets. “I don’t know. I don’t know anything.” His hair was leaking water droplets that dripped down his knees and dribbled down his neck.

“What do you wanna do?” Noya said. He sounded fierce. Asahi probably had to actually answer him. He might lose a friend if he didn’t. But what was the right thing to say? His stomach felt tight and jumpy and he started feeling exhausted, deep in his bones tired. He just wanted to go to sleep. That wasn’t the right answer, though.

“Asahi,” Noya said. He was sitting back-to-back with Asahi now. When did that happen?

“Asahi,” Noya said again. “Calm down. It’s cool. Just say something to me, all right? Not an answer, just a word even. Anything.”

“You’re my best friend,” Asahi said. That felt right. It felt like a fact. It felt true.

“You’re one of my best friends, too,” Noya said.

Asahi sighed. “I’m stuck here, Noya. I can’t leave. Dad, and… Well. And you should leave. You should go to college and all that. In a year, obviously, because you still have to graduate high school first but, uh. You should go because you can but I’m going to stay here. And you’re my best friend. And it’s going to hurt no matter what but… I don’t want to change any of that.”

Noya’s head thumped between his shoulder blades, his head tipped back. “Yeah. Okay.” He sounded disappointed but he added, “No worries, though, we’re totally bee eff effs for life. No matter what, that’s not gonna change. And I dunno why you think my grades are gonna get me into—”

Asahi could tell he was going to make a joke and try to smooth it over. It was going to be fine. They were going to be friends no matter what. That felt true. So he squeezed his eyes shut and said in a rush, “But I saw a bit of gay porn that time you made me go to the Porn Dungeon for you and it made me think stuff and I applied that to you because I think of you like that sometimes and I’m really, really sorry.”

He felt Noya twitch against his spine. He hunched his shoulders up around his ears and somehow managed to squeeze his eyes shut even tighter.

“Uh,” Noya said. “We talkin’ boners?”

Asahi hummed assent because he really didn’t want to say it out loud. It was getting hard to breathe. It was so hot in this apartment and he was blushing so hard and the heat coming off Noya pressed against his back was almost suffocating. 

“Huh,” Noya said. “Well, uh. Likewise, dude.”

Asahi sucked in air. “Oh.”

“We don’t have to, like, do anything right now, but maybe when it’s not so hot out?” Noya offered after a moment. “Smooching or something?”

Asahi could feel his shoulders relaxing. “Yeah. That’d be. I’d like that.”

“Cool.” Asahi could hear the smile in Noya’s voice. “We gonna finish the movie, then? I can make you a sandwich if you have the stuff for one.”

“Do you want a sandwich, too?”

“Do I want— Dude. You know me. C’mon,” Noya said. He popped up and yanked at Asahi’s shoulder. “Let’s eat.”

**Author's Note:**

> Those fucking anime summer cicada background sounds freak me out, I’m not even joking. 
> 
> Who doesn’t wake up with a wedgie am I right?
> 
> Mysterious Disease for Plot Reasons. I didn’t know how to work that whole diagnosis in without it being weird, but I’m going to commit and say it’s ulcerative colitis because I know a little something about hideous intestinal diseases. Symptoms vary and are triggered by various things, from diet to environment to stress levels, and the results range from "pretty bad" to "hospitalization required." Asahi could probably trust his dad to take care of himself but ehhhhh he’s a good, worried son. He's just having a grumpy day.
> 
> Wifebeater is a super freaky name but it’s tied to such a specific item of clothing. There needs to be a better term for those tanktops.
> 
> I’m pretending Noya and Asahi grew up with VHS tapes like I did. I keep telling myself I’m not old but I’m probably lying.
> 
> Guess who hasn’t watched _The Fox and the Hound_ in a long time. Guess who BS’d through this with the help of Wikipedia and fifteen year old memories and impressions. It was me all along.
> 
> I don’t like soda except root beer. Is grape soda good? I don’t know. It sounds like the most sugary though and I think Noya would appreciate that.
> 
> Age of legal adulthood is 20 in Japan. Consent is 18 (in most provinces) but adulthood is 20. This is an interesting fact I did not know.
> 
> Noya has many best friends. Asahi. Tanaka. So many. (Tanaka friendship is very important to me and I refuse to believe Noya forgets about him just because Noya doesn’t want to get it on with him.)
> 
> Haaaay look at that, referencing long ago fics again. I’m on a goddamn roll with continuity. And gosh look at them communicate about how they feel without pushing each other. Look at them go.


End file.
